Iranian President Slams West Before New York Visit

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has gone on the attack against the West, just 24 hours after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged him to abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and just several days before he is due to attend a United Nations nuclear conference in New York.

Just days before he is set to attend a UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York, President Ahmadinejad resorted once again to a strategy of attacking the United States and other Western nations.

At a celebration to mark what was being proclaimed "National Persian Gulf Day," the Iranian president used fiery rhetoric to portray the U.S. and other Western nations as aggressors, seeking to subjugate Iran and other Middle East nations:

"[Western powers] want to dominate the Middle East because it is the center of civilization, culture, foreign affairs and control of the world," he said.

The Iranian president said that "by dominating the Middle East, [the West] hopes to take control of the entire world."

Mr. Ahmadinejad also accused the U.S., without naming it, of "being an enemy of truth and using deception and fraud," in its dealings. He went on to claim that Iran has long been a defender of "freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of ideas."

Human rights organizations, however, report that Iran has arrested thousands of opposition activists, demonstrators, journalists, professors, students and minority Bahai's in the months after what many Iranians complain was a fraud-ridden presidential election.

Iran's Vice President, Mohammed Reza Rahimi, meanwhile paid a visit to ally Syria, Friday, denouncing Western attempts to "isolate Iran economically." He said Tehran will stand behind Syria, and he warned Israel its legs would be cut off if it tried to invade Syria. Rahimi's strong words follow comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that alleged weapons transfers from Syria to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia pose a serious threat to Israel and could lead to war.